Florida Keys Scenic Drive: Hammock, Beach & Tarpon

The largest remaining tract of protected West Indian tropical hardwood hammock in the continental United States — 2,421 acres of Caribbean royal palm, gumbo-limbo, poisonwood, and mahogany that survived development pressure on Key Largo through a campaign by the local conservation community in the 1980s. Named for Dagny Johnson, a Key Largo resident whose advocacy helped protect the land. The park has 6 miles of trails through the hammock canopy; the main loop passes mahogany trees 3-4 feet in diameter, bromeliads, orchids, and 84 protected plant and animal species including the Schaus' swallowtail butterfly and the Key Largo woodrat.

A small but well-curated history museum in Islamorada covering the Keys' distinctive story: the Matecumbe people who lived here before Spanish contact, the wrecking industry that made the Keys wealthy in the 1800s, Henry Flagler's Overseas Railroad (completed 1912, destroyed in the 1935 Labor Day Hurricane — the most intense hurricane to make US landfall on record), and the postwar transformation into a fishing and tourism economy. The railroad exhibit — including survivor accounts of the 1935 hurricane that killed over 400 people, many of them World War I veterans working on a highway project — is the strongest section.

A half-mile of natural beach on Lower Matecumbe Key, with a wooden boardwalk that winds through a red mangrove estuary before opening to a shallow turquoise bay. One of the few natural beaches in the Florida Keys (most Keys beaches are manicured resort strips). The water is clear and very shallow — waist-deep 100 yards out — and the consistent southeast breeze keeps it comfortable. Named for Anne Eaton, a local environmentalist who advocated for preserving this stretch.

Islamorada's landmark resort — 27 acres on the Atlantic side of Upper Matecumbe Key, with a private fishing pier, six food and beverage outlets, and a 1,100-foot white sand beach. The property has hosted fishing tournaments and presidential visits since the 1940s. Tomorrow's drive continues south to Marathon and Bahia Honda.

A 63-acre nature preserve and museum in the middle of Marathon — protecting the oldest known domestic structure in the Florida Keys: the Adderley House, built in 1903 by George Adderley, a Bahamian conch craftsman, from coral rock quarried on the island. The museum covers Keys natural history, the Bahamian-Conch culture that shaped the Middle Keys, and the freshwater lens ecosystem unique to the island hammocks. The nature trails through the hammock pass a tidal lagoon where the marine section connects to Florida Bay.

A 5-acre island beneath the original Seven Mile Bridge — the center of construction operations for Henry Flagler's Key West Extension between 1908 and 1912. About 400 workers lived on Pigeon Key at peak construction, housed in six buildings that still stand and are now preserved as a National Historic District. Accessible by ferry from the Marathon waterfront (or by walking/biking the 2.2-mile decommissioned original bridge). The museum in the foreman's house covers the construction of the Overseas Railroad — an engineering feat comparable to the Panama Canal, built through open ocean on 2,000 concrete piers.

Consistently ranked one of the best beaches in Florida — a state park spanning both the Atlantic and Gulf sides of Big Pine Key with three beach areas, all with clear turquoise water and white sand. The original Bahia Honda Bridge (1912 Flagler railroad, decommissioned 1938) rises above the park in a rusted arc — one of the most photogenic remnants of the Overseas Railroad. Snorkeling access to the Looe Key reef system is available from the park's concessionaire boats.

A waterfront resort on the Gulf side of Marathon with beach house-style rooms and direct bay access. The private beach and pool face west for sunset views across Florida Bay; the resort's restaurant is good enough that no driving is required for dinner. Marathon is mid-Keys, well-positioned for the northward return drive tomorrow.

The decommissioned 1938 highway bridge running parallel to the current Seven Mile Bridge — 2.2 miles of car-free road open to pedestrians and cyclists, with unobstructed views of the Atlantic on the south side and Florida Bay on the north. Walking it at sunrise, with the water going from gray to aqua and the pelicans fishing below, is a classic Keys experience. The original bridge ends at Pigeon Key; the full round trip is 4.4 miles but any distance is rewarding.

The most unusual attraction in Islamorada — a working marina where enormous schools of Atlantic tarpon (silver kings up to 200 pounds) congregate at the dock to be hand-fed by visitors. The tarpon gather here in such numbers that they jostle for position and splash water onto the dock. $4 to enter the dock, $3 for a bucket of baitfish. The marina also rents kayaks and paddleboards to mangrove islands; the open-air Hungry Tarpon restaurant is directly on the dock for lunch.

A former quarry on Windley Key where Flagler's railroad workers cut the island's coral limestone for construction fill — the quarry walls now expose 125,000-year-old Key Largo limestone, the fossilized remains of an ancient coral reef. The 8-foot quarry walls show individual corals in cross-section, exactly as they grew in the shallow sea that covered the Keys during the last interglacial period. A short and interesting stop with a geological walking trail through the quarry cuts.